Thursday, March 5, 2015

Ask Linda #1011-Remove replaced divot

Dear Linda,
I recently observed a player removing a correctly placed and flat divot from directly behind their ball before playing a shot. I can only assume it was distracting the player in some way. The divot had not yet re-rooted itself. Was this in breach of any rule?
Lou from a village near Banbury called Bodicote (England)

Dear Lou,

A player is not permitted to improve the area of his intended swing by removing a replaced divot [Rule 13-2 (8th bullet)]. The penalty is two strokes (loss of hole in match play).

Linda
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